Welcome to the Charles C.W. Cook podcast, episode 16, the one that got away.

This one is a little later than usual because I got swamped this week.

But here it is nevertheless.

Halfway through Friday, ready for the weekend,

in Under the Wire. My guest today is Vic Martis, who is going to talk to me about the history of vodka. What else would you expect from a weekend edition? But first, I want to talk

about everyone's favourite topic. Spending. Deficits. The debt. And in particular, about how

utterly depressing it is that Republicans talk such a good game on spending deficits and the debt,

but never actually seem to do anything about them.

Now, earlier this week, I read a piece in NBC about the GOP's plans for the budget.

And the quotes in it, which come from elected Republicans, not from members of the media, are honestly somewhat unbelievable.

Of course, the piece is full of all of the editorializing that you'd expect.

But the quotes, which are real, speak for themselves.

And sadly, those quotes are typical of where the party is at the moment.

So here's NBC.

Republicans newly empowered with a House majority are demanding spending cuts as a price for lifting the debt ceiling

and averting a catastrophic default on

US debt.

Now, just as an aside, I don't think there is anything wrong with Congress addressing

spending when lifting the debt ceiling.

I of course understand that the debt ceiling is being lifted

to accommodate the consequences of previous spending.

But it seems entirely natural to me

...